The Trojans were ultimately done in by a 7-15 road record. USC has to feel flummoxed after getting the cold shoulder from the selection committee, which deemed its No. In a difficult Pac-12, which rinks among the tougher conferences in college baseball, getting to 17 conference wins used to mean something. One snub, two snub, red snub, redder snub If Matthews bounces back as the stud he is, the Cardinal could cruise back to Omaha. Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton and San Jose State join Stanford on its home dirt, and none is in the Cardinal’s class.Įven a potential Super Regional matchup with Miami isn’t too scary.īut a ton is riding on Stanford’s arms, especially Pac-12 pitcher of the year Quinn Matthews, who was roughed up by the Wildcats in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals. The odds look pretty good for a return visit to the College World Series for the Cardinal, who host what might as well be called the West Regional. They now head to Fayetteville, where they’ll have to contend with an imposing Arkansas squad, seeded 3rd overall, TCU and Santa Clara. After their title game loss, Arizona was projected as 1 of the first few teams out, but it seems they weren’t even in the last few teams in. But a pitching staff that ranks 8th in the conference in ERA stepped up to the plate - err, mound - with a 3-day stretch that rivaled any it’s had all year.Īnd now the Cats are going dancing. 8 seeded and defeated Arizona State, Oregon State and Stanford before falling to Oregon in a tight championship game.Īs usual, the Cats were driven by their prodigious power, as Chase Davis and Kiki Romero continued their assault on opposing pitchers. Arizona headed just up the road to Scottsdale as the No. It’s fair to call the Wildcats’ performance under Hale thus far a bit underwhelming, at least until the Pac-12 Tournament. Here’s a look at my 5 takeaways as 5 Pac-12 teams prepare for Regionals starting Friday … Hale to the chiefĪrizona baseball coach Chip Hale has been a bit maligned since getting the gig, as Wildcats fans had huge hopes, both for their former alum and in the week of the successful Jay Johnson era. 15 RPI and Oregon getting a 2-seed while Washington got a 3 - those are smaller surprises. 8 overall seed despite a loss in the conference title game and a No. Combined, and added to the fact that other west coast hopefuls like UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara were left out, makes one wonder if anyone on the selection committee lives west of the Mississippi. USC, which finished with a better record than either - 34-23-1 overall and 17-13 in league play - is also out.Īll three of those facts were stunning in and of themselves. The NCAA Baseball Tournament reveal on Monday was nothing short of a shocker for Pac-12 baseball fans, particularly the fans of Arizona, Arizona State and USC.Īrizona, which went just 12-18 in Pac-12 play yet advanced to the conference tournament title game with a 14-4, run-rule victory over Stanford on Friday, is in.Īrizona State, which went 16-13 in conference play and swept Arizona this season, is out. Third reaction: I guess the Pac-12 Tournament matters a whole lot more than we thought.
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